Lasoun/LCFES
The Lasoun Call Fast and Easy Service is a nationalized telecommunications company that connect penguins together through a pay-to-call network. The telecommunications company helps to provide 23% of the government's earnings. The lines used are usually made of fabric for some odd reason, and stretch out to each and every infrustructure in Lasoun. Origins In the first place, Lasoun was very poor. It did not have any form of telecommunications and thus had to use mail. Many did not like the service as 'mail' took about a month to reach the recipient's house as there is no appointed mailman in the country. Some random guy simply delivers the mail each month. One day, two children, both living side-by-side, decided to call each other by tying a can to a string, thereby allowing communication between both houses. Other house owners liked the idea, and made their own that connected to the rest. Soon, the street that the two children were living in was flooded with fabric lines, blocking most cars from entering. The government realized the potential for setting up a phone network and decided to create the 'LCFES'. They originally wanted to make it free, but they wanted money, so it had to be fast instead of free. Thus, the service started on March 2005. Operations Calling How does it work, you ask? Well, a set of fabric lines are connected underground for 'fast' communication. In order to call a person or a place, they have to punch in a set of numbers instead of an phone number. In the USA, the Governance would allow penguins to call each other by dialing a simple phone number. 00-256-819 However, Lasoun decided the caller should punch in numbers of each wire instead of the recipient in order to reach it. 05-08-09-23-24-93-233-853-239-453-325-23-267-895-100-920202-11 This is because it is much harder to let the caller's phone track the recipient's phone than track the fabric lines. Following that, the caller's phone would send a transmission to the recipient through the set of complicated fabric wires built underground. It would take an approximate 30 seconds to reach the caller from one end of the island to the other, as the phone travels as fast as the speed of sound. The 'beep' is replaced by the static produced when the electricity runs through the recipient. This would cause damage in a penguin's ear by right, so most would usually put the phone farther away from their ears. Lasoun originally wanted to revamp the system, using the Governance's method. However, Lasoun could not afford to buy a satellite nor other necessary items, thus, it was stuck with fibre-optic wires. Without the thirty seconds of musical interlude, the Lasoun Call Fast and Easy Service would be the fasted phone line in Antarctica, and possibly, the world. Rates Rates are displayed below. *Every 1km from recipient (1LS) *First 3 minutes on the phone (1LS) *Every subsequent minute on the phone (1LS) The first three minutes on the phone also includes the time it takes for the recipient to pick up the phone, thus, if the recipient is a total slowpoke, the caller would be doomed. Originally, the rates were less organized. Until 2009, each hundred metres of the wire that is connected to the recipient and the caller would cost 1LS. Connecting Beneath basements of homes and underground train stations lies a complicated network of unsteady, fabric wires. It is unknown how the wires got there, but most suspect it is related to a neighbouring country. Whatever the case, people still said they liked the fact that the service was fast, crisp and clear, although they would have to punch it an approximate 30 numbers just to do so. The network is connected through metal bars, magnets and even ditto to prevent certain transmissions to reach undesired areas. Spanning a length of Highway 1, the LCFES network is considered as the biggest telecommunications network in the whole country, next to Governance, the only other operator. Profiteering The Lasoun Call Fast and Easy Service has been accused of profiteering, resulting in numerous protests against the company and the Ministry of Communications and Informations of Lasoun, which is basically made up of officials from the LCFES. Cases lasted from 2006 to 2009, and stopped only when the LCFES changed its rates. The first case was the Marina Ee vs. LCFES case, in which Marina Ee accused LCFES of intentionally charging them extra, as wire signals then travelled for a very long time, resulting in a longer wait time and more cost (it had to pass through more wires, and at the time, the caller must pay 1LS for every 100m of wire the signal has passed through). LCFES won the lawsuit, and Marina Ee appealed again and again. Eventually, she brought the case to the USA court, in which Marina Ee was compensated 290LS. Another case, held in 2007, highlighted the management committee of LCFES. It is said that the workers are paid only 0.3LS per hour, allowing a worker to purchase only three pins. This spread nationwide controversy, almost leading to a boycott led by various organizations to forfeit the LCFES service. In the end, the case was settled outside of court, with the LCFES management board vastly rearranged. The infamous LCFES vs. Bishops vs. Marina Ee case, in which LCFES sued both Bishops and Marina Ee, along with the Bishops sueing Marina Ee, was held in January 2008. LCFES accused Bishops on being corrupt and Marina Ee for 'lowering the costs of services, resulting in anti-profit or whatever that means'. The bishops sued Marina Ee for protests held in the USA, while Marina Ee in turn sued a member of the LCFES for fraud. Eventually, the LCFES lost 300,000LS. The member lost 50,000LS, the Bishops lost 20,000LS and Marina Ee lost 19,000LS. All parties were, in turn, accused by Harold Almond for anti-trust activities. Harold Almond lost the case eventually. The 2009 W.E.I.P.I.N.G. vs Sanders Associates case involved LCFES. In this case, LCFES was in the right and sided with W.E.I.P.I.N.G. to sue Sanders Associates for having a monopoly. Sanders Associates had to pay a billion dollars in turn.